Saturday, August 21, 2010

Raspberries

One of the joy’s
about summer in Canada is enjoying all the summer fruits and vegetables that
are in season. They’re not only good for
you, but are also cheaper to buy. While
going to the supermarket and buying all these fruits and vegetables is fun, I
also really enjoy going to farms and picking my own fruit. A local farm that I love is Brooks Farms, a
farm just north of Markham Ontario (where I live). While Brooks Farms has many fruits to ‘pick’
from, my favorite to collect is the raspberry.
Raspberries are in season from July to August, but it’s best to visit
early in order to pick the best fruit first.

Someone once told me
that the raspberry is the champagne of berries, and after eating a couple I
concurred. Raspberries are fragrant,
sweet, and are good for your health.
Raspberries contain lots of vitamins, and also have antioxidants that
protect against free-radicals. The only
negative part about raspberries is the price and the seeds they come with. Even though they are pretty expensive, I
figure I would much rather spend my money on something that is not only
delicious but healthy, than on some fast food junk that is bad for my body and
can upset my stomach.

As for the seeds,
they’re not much of a bother because I like to scarf the berries down when I
eat them, lol. However one solution to
the seed problem that I have found is to make raspberry juice and remove the
seeds. Making raspberry juice is pretty
simple; to start off, after bringing home your berries you just want to give
them a light wash. I then like to store
mine in zip-loc bags, and I use a straw to suck all the air out of the bag so
that I may store them in the freezer (for up to 12 months). Then whenever I am ready to make juice I
defrost the bag for a few hours, then put it in the blender, add some sugar and
water and mix. Once it is fully mixed I
like to strain the juice to remove the seeds, and finally put it in a pitcher
with lots of ice. Once that is done you
can sit back and enjoy a nice glass of raspberry juice and reflect on all your
hard work.